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Make America Think Again

The 2016 Presidential Election is in full swing, and as is to be expected during such a campaign, the candidates have rolled out short, pithy slogans designed to be memorable and to sum up their views and stances on the issues in few words. On the Democratic side, the Clinton campaign has created the slogan “Stronger Together,” a call for unity and respect among all Americans and a jab at what the DFL considers to be “divisive” rhetoric (Keith 2016). The Republican candidate, businessman Donald Trump, has gone with the slogan “Make America Great Again” in an effort to critique the policies of the Obama administration and to suggest that he is the man to fix the problems that have arisen from those “failed” policies (Guest 2015). Trump has been known on occasion to sport a baseball cap prominently displaying the Reagan-era slogan on the campaign trail as he courts many of the same voters that supported the conservative titan Reagan in 1980, along with both older and younger individuals whose views align more or less with the Republican party of today. Not surprisingly, this hat of Trump’s has become something of an icon, and it is by no means out of the ordinary to find Trump supporters wearing one of their own.

In response, a blogger known as “The Christian Egoist,” who appears to be opposed to the Trump campaign, has made one subtle change to to the Republican’s slogan, calling for us to “Make America Think Again” (Egoist 2016). Commercial outlets have been selling merchandise with this version printed and sewn on it, notably including baseball caps among the items for sale (Election Depot 2016). In the realm of propaganda and election advertising, parody can be a powerful tool, and this example looks to be no exception. Parodies serve to recall something else – be it a song, a campaign slogan, an image, or something different – and portray that thing in a light different from what was originally intended. Sometimes, parodies are simply good-natured humor. Such is the case with much of the music of “Weird Al” Yankovic. But just as often, a parody tries to recall its object in an unflattering or derogatory light. The “Make America Think Again” hat and slogan are examples of the latter. The closeness in wording to Trump’s original slogan calls the candidate himself to mind, while the syntax of the parody slogan suggests that America isn’t thinking during this election. With both phenomena taking place simultaneously, the implication is that Trump supporters either cannot or choose not to think critically in their support for him. Whether or not this example of parody will prove to be as effective as the “In Your Heart, You Know He Might” slogan adopted by Lyndon B. Johnson during the 1964 Presidential Election (in response to Barry Goldwater’s “In Your Heart, You Know He’s Right”) remains to be seen (U.S. Presidents 2016).

Guest, Steve. “Trump: The Last Time America Was Great Was During the Reagan Administration.” The Daily Caller. 16 August 2015. http://dailycaller.com/2015/08/16/trump-the-last-time-america-was-great-was-during-the-reagan-administration-video/.